EURO 2024 Final Scrollytelling Analysis
The “scrollytelling” technique can be a very interesting way to make soccer (or other sports) analysis more dynamic and interactive. In this document, we will attempt to tell a story using data from the EURO 2024 final between Spain and England and find all the keys to the match in a more entertaining way.

In this match, Spain achieved a last victory for the national team in a perfect tournament, with seven wins in seven matches (no national team had ever won all matches in the tournament), surpassing all the European teams that are World Champions at every round: Italy in the group stage, Germany in the quarter-finals, France in the semi-finals, and England in the final.
Match preview
We will analyze the main moments of the match, from the players who entered at the start to the most influential plays.
First period summary
The final did not deviate from the expected script, starting with Luis de la Fuente’s Spain looking for the rival goal, while England was well protected, especially on the flanks, with Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw winning their individual duels against Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, respectively. Without options on the outside, the Spanish national team also struggled to find solutions inside against a solid England that executed their game plan during the first forty-five minutes.
Spain’s groundbreaking second period start
In the second half, everything changed in favor of Spain just a couple of minutes in. Let’s see it!
Second period evolution insights
Far from sitting back, Spain continued attacking and had clear chances to extend their lead. In fact, the total xG (Expected Goals) for this very interesting second half was 1.67 to 0.41.
xG is an advanced metric that indicates the probability of scoring based on prior characteristics of the shot, such as distance and angle to the goal or the part of the body used to shoot, among others.
Let’s see how the xG values evolved for both teams during the second half.
Final thoughts
Spain, which very few considered a candidate to win before the tournament began, lifted the EURO cup in Berlin. This was the fourth in their history, making them the team with the most European titles.

We hope you have enjoyed this different way of analyzing a soccer match and that this encourages you to use the Closeread library and build your own stories.
